In a joint raid conducted in Kolkata and Siliguri officers of the Income Tax Department and Central Board of Direct Taxes on Thursday busted what they called a possible lottery-cum-hawala racket which could involve more than Rs1,000 crore.
A marathon search in several locations in two cities yielded more than Rs65 crore, sources said, adding the total amount could go up as the counting was still going on when reports last came in.
I-T and CBDT sleuths raided addresses at Sarat Bose Road, Sahpur at New Alipore and Behala, from where they recovered 16 gunny bags, 27 travel bags and two almirahs stuffed with notes. “There was so much money that four counting machines had to be brought and counting is still going on” said one of the 100 officials who fanned out in various parts of Kolkata for conducting the raids.
On the source of money the officials said they were part of a lottery scam and did not rule out hawala angle. “Tentacles are spread as far as Tamil Nadu and Bihar” sources said adding the sleuths were trying to find out whether the money was part of consignments meant for Middle East through hawala and money laundering business.
On whether there was any link with the “D Company” officials said “no angle will be left uninvestigated.”
Names of two firms and two persons called Nagrajan and Santiago had cropped up during the raids sources said adding the money might have been raised through a fake lottery business. “The cash was stashed away in Kolkata and Siliguri and there is a possibility of this being routed to some foreign country or some other State for election purpose.”
The recovered money was being kept in a private bank after the counting was over sources said adding “there is so much of cash that it may take the whole of night to complete the whole process of counting.”
There were reasons also to believe that some portion of the money might have been used for electoral purposes in Tamil Nadu sources said adding one suspected person was detained for questioning and another had absconded.